A day in the Park

I've always thought March and April were two of the most difficult months in Minnesota. Generally, March is one of the snowiest months of the year and April generally allows that snow to slowly melt away in a haze of gray days. When spring embraces the region, people flock outside everyday to rejoice in the green grass and emerging buds. This place appreciates spring unlike any other, but after six months of winter, wouldn't you?

This year after an above-average winter, March has been absolutely beautiful. We've taken a tour of area parks. E loves to swing and just be outside. Jack loves the slide and the bigger the better. He especially likes to play when other kids are present. He follows along with whatever they are doing.

This breath of fresh air has been so very nice. But we're holding the breath.... hoping the snow and cold is o-ver.

Jack's Cars Second Birthday

Our little man Jack turned two in early March and we threw him a themed birthday party featuring one of his favorite things of the moment, Cars. I've been working on this party on and off since Christmas and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I wanted to do a red with black & white check theme using a free clip art car that I found online. I shopped sales, used coupons, and picked up items at the Dollar Tree to make this work on as economically as I could.

I practiced for a few weeks making a few different layer cakes before making Jack's. It was drier than I would've liked, but it looked good and fit the motif. The stoplight cookies were my favorite sugar cookie/icing recipe.

One of Jack's favorite gifts was a goalie set from our neighbors, who are a hockey family. Jack loved it.

One of the biggest projects for this party was 2-Town, a big number two that was a place for the kids to drive their cars. You can't see the bridge that Jack is driving his car on in this picture, but it was the most popular part of the project. There was a baseball diamond of purled yarn for grass and sandpaper for the dirt. I used spray painted butter cartons and creamer cartons to create buildings and garages. Colored, wrinkled aluminum foil with fish became a river and glued rocks became an off-road. A tub of marbles was our pool and a small container with blue play-doh in the middle of the rotary was our fountain. 2-Town is now in our basement where Jack sometimes plays with it.

On the head table, I found a great piece of plywood for $1 in the Home Depot reject pile. I covered it with wrapping paper that I found at the Dollar Tree. I made all the graphic elements on my computer and printed them out at home. I made the trays by wrapping gift boxes with red paper and decorating w/the checked fabric I found at JoAnns. I was surprised to discover I couldn't find checked wrapping paper ANYWHERE. I thought that would be super-easy to help with my theme.

I wanted the party to have a few healthy options, so I featured a Dipstick Station with pretzels, mini-corn dogs, pretzels, carrots, and snap peas along with dips of hummus, ranch, and honey mustard.

I used a barely used storage toolbox part for a "spare parts" of little snacks for the kids. I used formula cans wrapped in wrapping paper to make it look more like a "toolbox," The cans were fixed with oreos, chex, goldfish, strawberries, twizzlers, Swedish fish, and blueberries.

I put labels on the juice and water bottles. While the kids played with 2-town, I had a car quiz for the adults with questions like 'what number was on Herbie the Lovebug' and 'what car did Prince sing about?' The winner got a set of spare tires...also known as oreos.

Favors were Pez Cars dispensers I found on sale at Walmart:

Plans are already underway for Evie's first birthday party. So many possibilities and only six and a half months to plan! I've already changed the theme three times.... so we'll see what it becomes.

A high-tech country song

If there was a country song about high-tech heartache and loss, I would be singing it.

Why no post? For one, I have two kids that keep me hoppin'. For two, since mid-January, I've had two jump drives go kaput, a camera battery go out of commission, and a hard drive that crashed. Since I teach an online course and freelance writing articles as well as donate my time and skills to a certain nonprofit, this entire process has been a headache of magnificent proportions. It's taken getting up early, utilizing cloud space, and maximizing down time at my real job to meet all of my deadlines.

The Apple people tell me my hard drive had a "corrupted file" that sounds suspiciously like a virus, but no matter....it's still under warranty so it was replaced and the girl just smiled at us like it's the best thing ever. My dear husband who did all the dealing with the Apple people even complained that the girl didn't show enough remorse and sympathy when telling us of the loss of our hard drive.

In reality, that meant we lost all baby photos from the birth of our two children. Baby videos. Christmas memories and all sorts of good stuff that you just can't replace. I felt like I lost a pet. Evelyn was already going to have the second child syndrome because the first 5 months of her life were erased.

Fast-forward a few days and one of the guys at my work said he'd take a look, but no promises. Within two minutes, he'd recovered everything off my hard drive. I've since backed everything up on two devices and plan on burning it all to a CD. It's somewhat of a happy ending, but what a major headache.

So if this really were a high-tech country song, I would probably prayed for the twang to just short out because I couldn't deal with it.

Jack at play

Jack loves to dance. When we're putting away dishes, cooking, or doing whatever in the kitchen, we put on the dance music and party down. He won't stop. He likes anything with a distinct beat. Favorites on the iPod include "Sexy and I know it" by LMFAO, "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz, "Apache" by the Sugarhill Gang, "Lowrider" by War, and his all-time favorite is probably James Brown, particularly the song "Mother Popcorn."

We've cut back on James Brown recently because we've noticed he's saying "Good God" like him. Usually it's referring to something in his diaper.

Jack likes to get wild and crazy and like most little kids, loves to run around in the nude. We allow him to do this and we go on puddle patrol.

Jack likes to be bounced around and tossed in the air. He plays rough and jumps and trips and always has an "ow-ie" somewhere. He gets up and keeps going....from the time he gets up until he goes to bed at night.

We love this picture. Dave snapped it right after we put back up the mobile and the kids were basking in the awe of rainforest creatures spinning to Bach or Mozart. Jack sometimes pulls something out of his nose and proudly presents it to us, saying "big boo-ger."

At least he doesn't eat it.

Yet.

Evie at 3 months

Since we're into month 4 of Evie, it's time to blog about her three month milestone.

Evelyn wasn't really into her photo session. She is usually a very jovial baby. She chatters and gurgles all the time. But when I pop out the camera on most occasions, she gives me a face like this. Solemn. Judgmental. Pondering. Who are you and what do you think you are doing?

Jack wanted to be in on the action, so I put him in the crib to give his sister a pep talk.

We think Evelyn is looking more and more like her pop-pop (Dave's dad) everyday. She has his eyes, for sure. She continues to be a very easy baby which we appreciate wholeheartedly. She eats. She sleeps. She chatters when she's well rested. We don't always appreciate the 6:45 am rants which always happen on weekends, but it is too adorable to be upsetting. She rolled over just after her four month mark. She loves water and kicks in the bathtub. As you can see, she still has peach fuzz and that's it.

Evelyn loves to look at her big brother, Jack. She tracks him like a dog watching a piece of food. Or at least be quite wary of where he is and what he's doing for her own safety. Of course, she recognizes us and always seems happy to see her family.

But not today.

These half smiles are about as good as I could possibly get on camera.

After awhile, she said 'enough already' and I did too.

Story of #jabs

Hockey culture here is much like a close-knit family. You tease each other, compete fiercely against each other, and nobody better talk about anybody's team except the team members. There are fights. There are hugs. And when something big happens, everyone steps up to respond in a big way.


In the State of Hockey, people are reeling about Jack Jablonski. In a holiday tournament junior varsity game on December 30, two players checked Jablonski into the boards. He fell and didn't get back up. In what people describe as a freak accident, Jablonski's spinal cord was severed and doctors thought he'd be paralyzed from the neck down for life. After one surgery and prayers prompted by word of mouth and a big social media trend, Jablonski can move his arms. See what the hashtag #jabs generates-- everyone is talking about Jabby.Jack's story has been in the news up here everyday. The latest medical update. A team selling bracelets for a fundraiser. His team's return to the ice. People wearing #13 w/small patches. One team wearing mini-stop signs on their backs. Stories of what it's like to be paralyzed. Some of the angles are fresh and creative and interesting. Others are stupid. Since the incident, two other players have also been somewhat paralyzed in the game. This topic has sparked a tremendous amount of discussion and debate. Can hockey be regulated into a safer sport? Should it? Will this incident change the game forever? Dave and I have discussed this at length more than once and have even talked about if we'll be okay with our son Jack playing hockey. (which for Dave is a huge consideration) If Jack Jablonski's story is sparking debate in our hybrid household, there's no doubt it is generating discussion in those super hockey families too.

Our friends are one of those super-hockey families. Their son plays on four teams. Their four-year-old daughter plays on a team and played in a skills exercise this weekend at Mariucci Arena. On a break between games, they came home and slept for two hours and got up and went to play again. They go to Canada to play. They play all year. The kids aren't pressured to play. The parents aren't nuts. It's just what they do. And they all seem to enjoy it.

Hockey isn't just a sport; it's a way of life here. So the question as to how much the sport could change and will change is one that we're watching too.

Stamp this.

When I get a package on my doorstep I know immediately if it was sent from Delight, Arkansas because it makes short work of a book of stamps.

It's a good thing they don't have to lick stamps any more.